BACKGROUND: Although everolimus has become a key therapeutic agent in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNEN), its efficacy and safety in clinical practice remains unclear. METHODS: Forty-seven patients with advanced PNEN treated with everolimus were reviewed retrospectively. To evaluate the safety of everolimus as a long-term treatment, the patients were divided into 2 groups according to treatment duration: group A, ≤1 year (n = 21); group B, >1 year (n = 26)...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The risk factors of postoperative complications and prognostic factors of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients aged ≥80 years have not yet been defined. We aimed to identify these factors in this patient population. METHODS: This single-center, retrospective cohort study included 625 patients who underwent curative hepatectomy from January 2004 to December 2013. Elderly patients were defined as those aged ≥80 years. Clinicopathological data and outcomes after hepatectomy for 60 elderly patients and 565 non-elderly patients were compared...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: In the present study, we conducted a multicenter nationwide survey to investigate the effects of preoperative fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) on the prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT). METHODS: From 16 Japanese LT centers, data were collected on 182 recipients with HCC who underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) between February 2005 and November 2013...

BACKGROUND: The outcomes following laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) in elderly have not been widely reported to date. This study aimed to analyze perioperative and oncologic outcomes in patients aged ≥70 years (elderly group) and those < 70 years (non-elderly group). METHODS: From April 1997 to September 2015, 402 consecutive patients with lesions in the body and tail of the pancreas underwent LDP at Rikshospitalet, Oslo University Hospital...

In this article, we present the rationale for creating a new society aiming at organizing laparoscopic liver surgery. It has been named International Laparoscopic Liver Society (ILLS). Its main mission is to facilitate the diffusion and education of laparoscopic liver resection for meaningful improvements in patient care. This will include organization of a biannual congress dedicated to laparoscopic liver resection, coordination of international registries, helping in the education of surgeons wishing to learn these techniques including travel grants, provide a website serving as a forum supporting collaboration between surgeons interested in the advancement of laparoscopic liver resection techniques (http://www...

Porcine models of extended hepatectomy and liver transplantation (LT) of reduced graft have been widely used for studying the small-for-size (SFS) syndrome and the various modalities of portal inflow modulation (PIM). However, considerable heterogeneity exists among the studies and their results. The aim of this review was to assess the main advantages and drawbacks of the different porcine models of SFS LT and SFS hepatectomy, and propose a standardized anatomical nomenclature for the various models. The MEDLINE database was searched for articles reporting porcine models of reduced graft LT or hepatectomy of more than 65%...

BACKGROUND: The National Clinical Database (NCD) in Japan is a nationwide registry that collects the data of more than 1,200,000 surgical cases annually from over 3,500 hospitals. Based on the NCD data, this study compared the perioperative outcomes of major laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) with those of major open liver resection (OLR) using the propensity score matching method. METHODS: We collected data on 15,191 major hepatectomy cases (929 major LLR cases and 14,262 major OLR cases), and investigated the short-term outcomes in well-matched groups...

Laparoscopic liver resection has been adopted slowly due to concerns for bleeding and oncologic outcomes. Currently, over 9,500 laparoscopic liver resections have been performed and reported worldwide. Numerous studies have shown the safety and oncologic equivalence of laparoscopic liver resection when compared to open resection. Pure laparoscopic and hand-assisted laparoscopic liver resection are the two most commonly used techniques for minimally invasive liver resection surgery. Advantages of the hand-port include tactile feedback, facilitation of liver mobilization, and ease of ability to control bleeding...

The paradigm introduced by William Halsted for surgical residency training has been considered the most appropriate educational system to acquire the knowledge and surgical skills required to become a competent general surgeon. Hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery is considered an important part of general surgery training because of its high prevalence and complexity. Nowadays, we are faced with a worldwide shortage of general surgeons candidates, restrictive working hours and less surgical exposure, situations that can undermine the objectives of training in HPB surgery during residency...

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to investigate the impact of the duration of hepatic pedicle clamping (HPC) on tumor growth after major hepatectomy in a rat model. METHODS: Rats were divided into four groups according to the length of HPC during 70% partial hepatectomy followed by N1S1 tumor cell implantation: group 1, without HPC; group 2, with 5-min HPC; group 3, 10-min HPC; and group 4, 15-min HPC. At three weeks after tumor cell implantation, liver tumor growth and its possible mechanisms were investigated...

Focused pathological attention to tumor invasion of the retroperitoneal resection margin after pancreaticoduodenectomy for cancer of head of the pancreas led to the knowledge of strong tendency of cancer cells to infiltrate into the retropancreatic tissue and to spread along the peripancreatic neural plexuses as the cause of local recurrence. The term 'mesopancreas' was coined to describe perineural lymphatic layer located dorsally to the pancreas and it was suggested that its complete resection will minimize loco-regional recurrence and improve outcome...

BACKGROUND: The most reliable index to predict the safety of hepatectomy for patients with poor liver function remains unknown. We aimed to construct a novel preoperative index to predict early liver failure (ELF) and mortality due to recurrence-free liver failure (MLF) after hepatectomy. METHODS: Between 2000 and 2012, 385 consecutive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing curative minor hepatectomy were divided into two sequential cohorts: training set (n = 143) and validation set (n = 242), and observed until 2015...

BACKGROUND: Corticosteroid (CS) has been introduced in most acute liver failure (ALF) patients for the purpose of suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines in Japan where a shortage of donor livers exists, whereas CS use is evaluated to be no benefit in Western countries. In the present study, we aimed to clarify the association between infectious complications and CS use in ALF, and determine when to evaluate treatment response and consider the timing for switching to liver transplantation (LT)...

Mortality and morbidity in hepatic surgery are affected by blood loss and transfusion. Topical haemostatic agents (THA) are composed by a matrix and/or fibrin sealants, and their association known as "carrier-bound fibrin sealant" (CBFS): despite widely used for secondary haemostasis, the level of evidence remains low. To realize a meta-analysis on the results of CBFS on haemostasis and postoperative complications. Searches in PubMed, PubMed Central, Cochrane and Google Scholar using keywords: "topical_haemostasis" OR "haemostatic_agents" OR "sealant_patch" OR "fibrin_sealant" OR "collagen_sealant" AND "liver_surgery" OR "hepatic_surgery" OR "liver_transplantation"...

Positive surgical margin of extrapancreatic nerve plexus (ENP) is a major cause of non-curative resection during pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for periampullary carcinoma (PC), which is difficult to detect at the early stage of PD. We describe a novel surgical technique using an isolating tape (iTape)-oriented ENP-first dissection (IOEFD) during PD. The iTape is firstly passed through the retroperitoneal space between ENP and inferior vena cava. Then, the iTape is further extracted from major vessels such as the common hepatic and superior mesenteric artery...

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the gold-standard modality for diagnosis and therapy of bilio-pancreatic disease. In particular, peroral cholangiography (POCS) is a useful modality not only for diagnosing biliary disease, but also for therapeutic procedures such as electrohydraulic lithotripsy. The SPY-DS single-operator cholangioscope has recently become available, and offers favorable visualization, a wide view, suction function and a larger accessory working channel. However, if the duodenoscope cannot be advanced into the ampulla of Vater for reasons such as surgical anatomy, POCS cannot be performed...

BACKGROUND: The surgical indications for patients with pancreatic head cancer (PHC) with clinical portal vein (PV) invasion (cPV) remain controversial. The present study aimed to determine the ability of computed tomography (CT) to diagnose pathological PV involvement (pPV) in PHC. METHODS: We evaluated the morphological features (length and circumference) and two sets of diagnostic criteria for cPV determined from preoperative CT findings of 112 consecutive patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for PHC...

BACKGROUND: There have been no reports showing the incidence of anastomotic stenosis of continuous hepaticojejunostomy (HJ) and identifying its risk factors for patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). METHOD: We retrospectively investigated 200 patients whose HJ was established by unified method, single layered continuous suture. HJ stenosis was diagnosed with endoscopic or radiologic examinations. Uni and multivariable unconditional logistic modeling were performed to explore the predictive factors and to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs)...